Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and RWBY. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum (rest in peace you saint of a man).

A question one would ask why type this up? Simple – why not?

Chapter 20: Not a Thing

"Why couldn't we just go a day without dealing with this crap?" Ruby whined as she sliced through a line of these - ghosts(?) - with her scythe. They felt no different than the air itself, but her instincts were telling her to stay away from them. Ichigo had no problem too dealing with these ghosts. Their gigai was dispelled into a soul candy that Ruby gave to Ichigo to make his shinigami duties more manageable. To say Ichigo was happy about it was an understatement.

"I think it's because we're cursed." Ichigo answered, twirling Zangestu by the cloth and taking out all the ghosts in front of him with a single swing, "We can't do anything that is possibly normal."

"And it was such a good date too." Ruby sighed.

'Hey, I call that a success.' Summer said.

Ruby grumbled. "One day-"

"-that's all I ask." said Ichigo.

Summer cooed. 'Aww, you two are finishing each other's sentences.'

'I'm shutting you off.'

Ruby had to admit she was having fun cutting down these hordes. She was addicted to the rush of wielding Mazazoru in her hands and dancing around with danger in her every swing and step. Ichigo while not as fast made up with destructive capabilities creating crevices with simple swings with Zangetsu. Normally, he would use so much spiritual energy by accident and created devastating attacks that would've leveled houses. Fortunately, Ruby was giddy to see what Zangetsu was capable of and more than asked Ichigo to train with her over the past month and occasionally asking tips for Bankai.

And Ichigo couldn't ask for a better tutor and sparring partner.

"Getsuga Ransu."

Ruby's creative mind didn't just apply to weapons but also moves too. It just so happened to be very useful for Ichigo that her mind turned to Zangetsu's ability to manipulate reiatsu into energy attacks. Getsuga Ransu was a thinned out version of the Getsuga Tensho that provided more piercing power like a lance at the expanse of a wide range. Since then Ichigo was more motivated to find more ways to use Zangetsu, especially if he could find ways to cause less destruction to his own town.

"Now that was awesome." Ruby almost squeaked.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Ichigo retorted as they stood back to back, "Just what the heck are these things? They keep appearing out of thin air."

Ruby and Ichigo lifted Mazazoru and Zangetsu above their heads, their blades glowing with silver and blue reiatsu. First, Ichigo pierced his Zanpakuto into the ground.

"Tsuki no Hogo."

A dome of blue reiatsu surrounded the pair and protected them from the approaching horde. Another variant of the Getsuga Tensho that fitted with Ichigo's will to protect. The dome was practically impenetrable due to Ichigo's vast amount of spiritual energy. Next, Ruby slammed her scythe into the ground with the muzzle giving off a red glow.

"Bara no Sho."

Mazazoru had its own variant of moves. Bara no Sho lets off an explosion and covers the ground in red reiatsu that would burn like fire on contact with any opponent she deems a threat. Combined with Tsuki no Hogo sets off a tremendous explosion comparable to a high-level cero from an Adjuchas and potentially Vasto Lorde when honed. When the blast cleared, the pair were allowed some breathing room only to groan when even more of these "ghosts" appeared.

"God-"

Ruby's words were cut off when a powerful gust of wind made the pair shield their eyes. They could hear the swish of steel through the air and a dancing figure in the horde cutting them down. When Ruby and Ichigo took a closer look, they saw it was a shinigami. A girl at their age with dark purple hair spiked up in a bundle with a red ribbon tied around her waist. The wind moved in the same way with her movements bringing up oak leaves. She even ascended into the air carried by a tornado.

"Who is she?" Ruby wondered.

"Bring them to the twilight, Mirokum-"

Before the shinigami could finish her release command, Ichigo stopped her by using shunpo and clashing with her Zanpakuto. Ruby felt a mix of anger and confusion of why Ichigo did that.

"There's no need to do that." said Ichigo, "These things are not hollows."

"Out of my way." said the shinigami, stepping off by planting her foot on Ichigo's face.

Ichigo fell back to the ground as the shinigami dealt with the ghosts. Ruby turned to Ichigo to see the common scowl of annoyance and frustration.

"Did she just use my face as a stepping stone?!" Ichigo ranted.

Ruby could only giggle uncontrollably at Ichigo's little dilemma he put himself in. Her laughter elicited a twitch in Ichigo's left brow.

"It's not that funny." Ichigo grumbled.

"It really is." said Ruby before she devolved into full-blown laughter.

Before they knew it, the shinigami dealt with the threat of those ghosts by casting a few tornadoes with her Zanpakuto. Their thoughts turned back to said shinigami when they heard her voice. To their surprise, the shinigami was in a gigai of a human girl wearing a brown coat and short skirt. She was currently doing a victory dance that Ruby would've joined. Her face turned to a frown when the shinigami turned around and saw Ichigo.

"Oh great." the shinigami whined, "It's the jerk, and his girlfriend."

Ruby was too flustered to reply due to a heavy blush coloring her pale cheeks from the statement.

"You!" Ichigo exclaimed, "How did you turn into your gigai so fast?!"

The shinigami just shrugged.

Ichigo gave a growl of frustration. "Who the heck are you?"

"I'm a shinigami."

"But who are you?!" Ichigo pestered, pacing closer with twitching fingers.

"If you want to know someone's name," the shinigami noted, "it's best to introduce yourself."

Ruby put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder to calm him down from his impending eruption of frustration. They looked back at each other before Ichigo backed down with his usual scowl. Ruby wanted to giggle that he literally had a scowl for everything.

"There's no need to be so suspicious." said Ruby, playing the diplomatic, "You helped us and I'm very grateful. My name is Ruby Rose, and the scowling artist here is Ichigo Kurosaki."

The shinigami smiled. "My name is Senna."

Ruby spaced out when Mazazoru put in her own note.

'What's wrong, Mom?' Ruby asked.

'I'm not sure.' Summer said, 'There's something off about her. She's no ordinary shinigami that's I know for sure. Try to stick with her while I try to contact her Zanpakuto to get some answers. Remember to keep your eyes bright.'

Ruby nodded inwardly and turned her attention back to Senna.

"Do you have any plans today?" asked Ruby, putting Senna in deep thought.

Ichigo glanced to Ruby with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.

"What?" Ruby replied innocently with cute wide eyes, "We can hang out as a trio. We'll put our... date on hold till you ask me out again."

The reminder of the date put a blush on Ichigo's cheeks and he turned away from her gaze.

"I want to play some tag." spoke Senna once finished from her thoughts.

Out of all the things the pair thought, a game of tag was not what came to mind at all. Ruby was the first one to break out of her stupor.

"Sure." answered Ruby, "So who's-"

"You're it." Senna cried after tagging Ruby and dashing off.

Ruby rushed after Senna with her Semblance but to her amazement only caught air. Senna rounded a corner at the very edge of Ruby's line of sight. A grin was plastered on the scythe-wielder's face. This was going to be fun.

"Hey where are you going?" Ichigo cried out trying to chase down his closer-than-friend.

"Gonna have fun." Ruby replied, dashing away, "You go to Kisuke and ask about those ghosts."

Before Ichigo could argue further, Ruby disappeared in a show of red petals. Ichigo scoffed and walked away with his signature annoyed scowl.

'Why does stuff like this happen to me?' Ichigo thought.

(Time-Skip)

Ruby couldn't remember having so much fun in a game of tag. It wasn't like Senna was fast. Her movements were too linear to catch Senna who moved like a wave of water through the crowds and streets. Once in a while, Ruby was able to tag Senna only to stall the inevitable to get tagged again. Their game lasted through the afternoon and the sun already sunk down the horizon. The night sky descended onto Karakura Town in the mall district.

Ruby was running on the rooftops of the district. No one could spot even the red hood dancing in the wind due to the stealth skills Yoruichi had started to train Ruby in, if only a little. A certain former apprentice of the Shihoin felt like she wanted to stab Ruby at the moment. It also proved useful tracking down Senna who put on a street show. As soon as she disappeared in a storm of autumn leaves similar to Ruby's Semblance, Ruby sprang into action and pinned her down.

"Ha-ha, got you." Ruby cheered in victory.

Senna laughed. That's right, you got me. You win."

"We've got to hang out more like this." Ruby said, picking up Senna, "I've never had that much fun like that in a long while."

"Agreed." said Senna, "Friends?"

"Is there a question to it?" Ruby answered with a fake scoff and the two shook hands.

"There you two are."

Ruby whipped her head around to the voice to find a head of orange hair followed by the casual scowl of Ichigo. Her cheeks blushed on sight with her closer-than-friend, but Ruby steadied herself. Ichigo's eyes momentarily gazed on Ruby with a hint of warmth (he was trying to hold down) then narrowed them on sight of Senna.

"We need to talk." Ichigo stated.

To ease the mood, Ichigo bought the trio a small dinner in the form of sandwiches (and cookies for Ruby). Ichigo informed the girls of his recent talk with Kisuke. A new dimension, the Valley of Screams, has opened up in the Dangai and connected the Soul Society and the Living World. The ghosts are called Blanks that are souls who got lost in the Dangai and have no memory of their lives. The only way to do away with the Blanks and the Valley of Screams is to get the Shinenju to restore the memories. Unfortunately, the Shinenju takes a corporeal, sentient form.

'So that's it.' Summer said, 'Senna is the Shinenju.'

Ruby almost spat out a mouthful of soda and tried to reply back in her head to Mazazoru.

'Wh-What?!'

'Her Zanpakuto had a master before he disappeared into the Dangai.' Summer said, 'It all adds up. So what will you do?'

Ruby didn't answer and stared at Senna for a minute, who was too busy talking with Ichigo.

'One thing is for sure, she is not going to the Soul Society.' Ruby stated, 'I only trust them as far as I can throw them, and as far as I know they will treat Senna as an item. Shinenju or not, Senna is not a thing. She's her own person.'

Summer smiled in Ruby's mindscape. 'That's my little Ruby.'

"...I've already told you." Ruby heard Ichigo repeat once she turned her attention back to the conversation, "The Blanks and the Shinenju. Tell me everything you can."

"I'm sorry about that." said Senna, "It's the first I've heard of them. So someone is using these pointy-head thingies and are trying this Shi-ne-shingy-ja-ba-"

"Shinenju." Ruby corrected, "I know, a tough name to memorize."

"Right." said Senna, not dropping her careless attitude that could rival Yang and Ruby, "So who is this someone that's trying to find this thing?"

"I don't know." Ichigo deadpanned with a pained scowl with a twitch of frustration, "I was hoping you would know."

Ruby leaned slightly to Ichigo. "Do you even have a plan once you've found out everything you need to know?"

Ichigo said nothing and his scowl only deepened, eliciting a fit of giggles from Ruby at cornering the pseudo-shinigami.

'Through any universe, boys will be dumb once in a while.' Summer commented.

'True.'

Senna laughed. "You are not making this easy. Well it sounds like you are just going to have to wait for those pointy hat guys to show up again. You know what I'll help you, but only because of Ruby since she's been so fun. There's just one thing we have to do."

Senna jumped from her seat and pointed above Ichigo's head. "We have to go up there."

Where Senna pointed got mixed reactions. Ichigo only frowned in annoyance unlike Ruby who's eyes illuminated and a cute smile spreading her cheeks.

"Take me up to the Ferris wheel and I'll help you with whatever you need to do." Senna said.

Ichigo scoffed. "I'm not falling for that."

"Please Ichigo." squeaked Ruby.

"Not you too-" Ichigo stopped midsentence when Ruby was giving him one of the most powerful eyes in existence: the Puppy Eyes.

"Pwease~." Ruby squeaked, her eyes widening and cheeks puffing cutely, "I-chi-kun~."

'Damn puppy eyes.' thought Ichigo, 'She's too cute.'

"F-Fine," Ichigo forced out with a blush on his cheeks from looking at Ruby, "we will go on the Ferris wheel."

"YAY!" Ichigo couldn't tell if that exclamation was from Ruby or Senna.

'Just so troublesome.' thought Ichigo until he realized something that made his face go crimson, 'Did Ruby just call me Ichi-kun?!'

'Lucky bastard.'

(Time-Skip)

"Great." Ichigo said, "We decide to take her to the Ferris wheel and she bails on us."

Ichigo turned to Ruby and raised an eyebrow at the serious look on her face. Without warning, she pulled Ichigo and dragged him away with a surprising amount of strength.

"Ruby, what's going on?" Ichigo demanded.

"I think I'm on to something." said Ruby until they felt a familiar spiritual pressure but larger than before. "I think Senna is in trouble."

Ichigo put away any questions he had and nodded. Once they were out of the public eye, they turned their gigai into soul candy and rushed off to the direction of the spiritual pressure with shunpo. Soon, they arrived at a graveyard with Senna surrounded by some thugs in strange green armor. "Thugs" wouldn't be the correct term to describe them since their spiritual pressure was at best that of a lieutenant.

"Ichigo, you go ahead." Ruby whispered to Ichigo.

The pseudo-shinigami nodded and dashed in front of the thug that had Senna by the throat. He cut off the man's arm to release her. He was going to attack Ichigo until Ruby dashed in super speeds with her Semblance and trapped the man with her scythe poised to cut the man in half.

"Talk." Ruby said coldly, using a scare tactic taught by Yoruichi, "Why are you after Senna?"

'Though I have a pretty idea why.' Ruby thought.

"Why you-"

"That's enough." said one of the thugs, "The time is not yet now."

The thugs disappeared in shrouds of shadow. However, Ruby decided to fire a reishi bullet and cut the man in half like she would a Beowolf. Her scythe was so quick it didn't have a drop of blood on the blade in comparison to the bloody corpse at their feet. The Ruby three months ago would've vomited, but being a shinigami allowed Ruby to harden her heart to some extent and glazed over the dead body without emotion.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ichigo 'asked' Senna who was trying to inch away, "I pay for dinner and you run away!?"

"I wasn't running away." Senna argued, "This is my family's graveyard. It's the truth."

"She's not lying, Ichigo." Ruby said.

"Now if you-"

Ichigo put a hand on Senna's shoulder to prevent her from getting away.

"I'm not just going abandon someone who was just attacked." said Ichigo.

"Yay, sleepover at Ichigo's house~." Ruby cheered.

"Hey, I didn't-"

"Well, if he's offering." Senna perked up.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Ichigo exclaimed, grabbing at his hair.

Goat-chin was going to have a field day when he gets back with two girls from a date with Ruby.

(Next Day)

"So boring." Senna whined.

"I knooww." Ruby groaned leaning on a wall.

The trio set off in the morning to look for more signs of Blanks and chose to be more hidden by remaining in their gigai till they or the thugs associated with the Blanks show up.

"What's going on?" Ichigo wondered, "There isn't usually this many people here."

Ichigo was thinking back to the strange spiritual pressure he sensed last night, and how Senna could be connected to it. When he came back to reality, he found Senna and Ruby gone from their previous spots to his ire. He called out to them, but Ruby beat him to the punch by calling him from around a corner.

Ichigo arrived with Ruby and Senna to find them comforting a Plus of a boy. The boy's crying turned Ichigo's scowl into a look of pity. Ruby, being the wonderful soul of child-like innocence she is, couldn't help but comfort the soul and wrap him in a hug while Senna put a gentle head on his forehead kneeling down to the kid's level.

"Shh, shh." Ruby soothed, "It's okay, little guy. My name is Ruby, and here is my friend Senna and Sir Scowls-a-Lot-"

"Hey!" Ichigo exclaimed on deaf ears, causing Ruby to hold in her giggles. She was definitely Summer's daughter with the teases she pulled.

"-is named Ichigo." Ruby continued, "What's yours?"

The plus answered. "Tamaiya."

"That's a wonderful name." Senna commented, "If you to tell us what's wrong, maybe we can help."

"I'm - lost." Tamaiya whimpered, "And I'm all alone 'cause... my dad is gone. We were... in the park and he was taking me to the festival. But I went to sleep and when I woke up he was gone."

"Listen," said Ichigo, "your father isn't in a festival, he's up in hea-"

Ruby gripped onto Ichigo's arm and squeezed it painfully to get his attention. Ichigo turned to the scythe-wielder and immediately regretted it as Ruby was giving him the Unohanna treatment with a sweet smile but producing a cold aura that made him sweat bullets.

"Ichi-kun," Ruby said sweetly but the aura got colder, "don't be rude. We are helping the kid find his dad, alright? Are - we - clear?"

"H-Hai." Ichigo submitted.

"Would you like that, Tamaiya?" Senna asked, getting a happy nod from the Plus.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, taking the boy gently by his hand, "We will all find him together."

The next Ichigo knew, he and the girls were walking through Karakura via the boy's directions, who was sitting up top of his shoulders courtesy of Ruby. He noted that Ruby was really good with the kid and soon got him in a laughing, joyful manner from his impressive mood. Ichigo wouldn't show it much, but the sight of Ruby playing with the kid warmed his heart. Soon, Ichigo started to play along with the adventure and was happy to give Tamaiya a ride with vigor. He found himself bumping up and down like a horse for the Plus, getting laughs from both the kid and Ruby who watched Ichigo dropping his cold scowling for once. She honestly liked - no - loved this side of Ichigo.

The party arrived at rural plaza that hosted a festival, but not kind none of them were expecting. They could tell everything was ethereal. Even the people were Pluses. The trio were treated to the sight of Tamaiya reuniting with his father, but the strangest thing out of all of that was that they claimed all of this happened because of Senna. Although Ichigo may have been confused, it only confirmed Ruby's suspicions about Senna.

When they disappeared, Senna suddenly broke down.

"Why are they all attracted to me?" Senna said with tears in her eyes, "Is it true? Am I the Shi-"

Before Senna could rant on, Ruby embraced her tightly in a hug.

"So what if you're this Shinenju?" Ruby said firmly, "You have feelings, you have likes and dislikes, and you have your own soul. You're not a thing. You're Senna."

"I-" The words were stuck in Senna's throat by Ruby's words while Ichigo watched a bit bewildered.

"You're a great person to hang around." Ruby concluded, "And I consider you my friend. Always."

Senna wanted to cry, but at the same time grab both Ruby and Ichigo in a hug. Neither happened as a bright light caught their attention. Familiar doors slid aside for half of the Gotei 13 to stand before them.

'Crapbaskets.' Ruby thought.

And that's a wrap for this chapter. Senna will get an Aura and a Semblance as well. I'm making this short by getting rid of Ganryu and his henchmen early on, which will be found out in Chapter 21 coming up next.

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